What We Don't Know
by JustInTime4u
Summary: The Premise: We, viewers of the show, only ever really see Amy and Jonah at work. What if we're just like anyone else at work, that doesn't realize that they already hooked up, but they don't want anyone to know? They are acting as normal as possible when anyone is around... but what goes on outside of Cloud9 is much different than what it seems like when Amy & Jonah are at work.
1. Chapter 1- No One Knows

Chapter 1; What If We Don't Really Know

(The Premise: We, viewers of the show, only ever really see Amy and Jonah at work. What if we're just like anyone else at work, that doesn't realize that they already hooked up, but they don't want anyone to know? They are acting as normal as possible when anyone is around... but what goes on outside of Cloud9 is much different than what it seems like when Amy and Jonah are together at work...)

A little background;

At work, Jonah and Amy have tried their best to keep up the illusion that they can barely stand each other. At times when that isn't possible, they might appear (to an outsider) to be, at most, casual, friend-like coworkers. (Their text messages would give them away, and Jonah's neighbors have probably noticed his new frequent visitor, but so far, they hadn't aroused any suspicion where it really counts.)

None of their Cloud9 coworkers had noticed them spending any more time together than usual, and they had been careful to keep their public interactions pc. Then again, from the very first day Jonah had started at Cloud9, it was clear that he had a thing for Amy. He was rarely more than a few steps away from her whenever possible.

Anytime the two worked at the same time, they'd become basically inseparable... though if anything, the change in their relationship OUTSIDE of work, had meant that they were consciously spending LESS time in the store together. If anyone at Cloud9 HAD noticed that their relationship had changed significantly; they hadn't said so to either of them, and Amy and Jonah were trying to keep it that way.

Anymore, their shifts at least partially overlapped, often ending at closing together- a situation Amy had created anytime she was able to do the scheduling for the floor. She found that it was easiest to keep up appearances and still manage to have plenty of their shifts overlap, if she scheduled them both to close. This had the added benefit that she wasn't expected home at any specific time, since closing meant getting done at random times, and, on occasion, staying well after closing.

It used to bother Amy that her husband was so clueless about 'adulting' in general, but lately, it was awfully convenient that he didn't. If Adam paid more attention to "adult" things (like their bills or their bank account) he should (and easily could) have noticed that Amy's pay didn't reflect the extra hours she was spending "at work" - but that part of adult life had always been one that he intentionally avoided. Now a days, it was really to Amy's benefit that her husband was so clueless. He probably didn't even know what her pay check normally was, so he wouldn't know the difference. She'd once confided this to Jonah as one of the many things about Adam that bothered her, when he topic came up. Anymore, though, Adam was rarely mentioned when the two could avoid the subject.

But I digress...

It's August 2016. After a harrowing 18 days, the Olympics were over and with it, the craziness of the in-store Olympics promotions. Jonah and Amy have known each other a little more than nine months. About a month ago, everything changed after a night of drinking - they ended up at Jonah's apartment after work and what happened, well, that's a story for another time. What happened that night changed their relationship for good.

On this particular night in August (the night of Dina's 'closing ceremonies'') Jonah and Amy stood in the parking lot along with the rest of the regular employees from the store. They all stood in silent awe, watching the fireworks over their closed Cloud9. One might have found the setting romantic, standing in the dark lot, watching the red, white and blue fireworks go off over the closed store - if it wasn't for Dina's obnoxious bullhorn, anyway.

Had they not been surrounded by their coworkers (from whom they'd been hiding the depth of their relationship for weeks) Jonah would definitely have put his arm around Amy while they watched. Often times, anymore, it pained him to be so close to her and unable to be affectionate towards her- but he knew the rules to their situation. He couldn't reach out and pull her close like he wanted, but he defiantly watched more of Amy than he did of the fireworks. She had a quiet, calm look on her face, like she was totally relaxed. He thought to himself that he rarely saw her look so peaceful... at work anyway.

As the fireworks (and the crazy show Dina had planned to upstage Glenn) came to an end, Glenn announced that he'd see everyone tomorrow and the staff dispersed, each turning to head off to their cars, some alone, others in small groups that walked together.

Marcus turned to Jonah, but he quickly realizes that Jonah is already ten steps ahead of him, lost in conversation with Amy, and so he spins to head off towards his apartment on foot (it's just a few blocks from the store.) Sometimes Marcus asks Jonah for a ride home, but after the craziness of the closing ceremony, Jonah and Amy were already deep in conversation. Despite Marcus's lack of tact, he decides against interrupting their conversation, giving one last glance back at the two. He notices that they are walking so close together that at first he thought they were holding hands, but he blinks again, realizing that they weren't, and he shrugs it off.

"Those two really need to just bang and get it over with," he says out loud, to no on in particular. He shrugs off the thought, and heads home on foot; He has no idea they've already been hooking up for weeks.

As usual, Jonah and Amy's cars are parked facing each other, in the North end of the lot. The fireworks were a really nice end to the night, and both had stood in silence watching them. When Glenn had said goodbye, and everyone started walking towards their cars, Jonah and Amy's conversation picked back up where they'd left off when they were leaving the store.

They were walking side by side, so close their hands touched twice, perhaps that's the moment Marcus had seen. Both were painfully aware that most of their coworkers were still lingering about just a few dozen yards away. Parked a few lanes over, Justine was sitting in her car, lighting a cigarette. Cody plugged in his cell phone and was probably rolling a joint before he rolled out of the parking lot. And lastly, Glenn was sitting in his car with Dina standing beside his driver's side window, presumably continuing to mock him for the "higher quality" closing ceremony she'd been able to put together.

"Anyway... that was...nice," Jonah said, smiling at Amy.

He was ALWAYS in a good mood, it seemed. To the point that it would annoy her at times. Amy rolled her eyes at Jonah- she was, after all, tired. It had been a long few weeks, and a long day on top of it, but Jonah was EVER the optimist, he *always* had something positive to say. She couldn't really argue with him this time though. Despite being tired, she had voluntarily stayed to watch the crazy show Dina had set up, and the fireworks were a nice way to end the evening.

"No, you're right,'" she said, conceding with his optimism this time.

"Ooh, you can never say that enough," Jonah laughed.

Amy looked at him quizzically, she raised an eyebrow.

"That I'm right," he explained, laughing a little at his own joke. "You hardly ever admit that I'm right about anything,"

"Well, maybe if it happened more often... " Amy teased back. The two reached Amy's car. Like many nights, they weren't ready to head off towards their homes, so she leaned back against her driver's side door, and Jonah stood near her. For a moment they were quiet, looking around the lot at who was still there. Even if everyone was gone, they would never risked being seen together in any sort of compromising position- but at the moment, there were still at least a dozen other employees that had yet to leave. Still, neither was ready to part for the night.

"This was actually really great tonight, I'm surprised that Dina was able to pull this together. When Garrett told me that she fired him from the planning committee, he said that she had some insane plans involving fireworks and a helicopter, but never in a million years would I have believed that she could actually make it happen." With that, Jonah leaned back against the car beside Amy.

"Just when I think there are no more surprises left in this job... " Amy said, smiling. She took off her vest, and unpinned her name tag from it.

Jonah kind of let out a small snort, that made Amy look back up at him.

"I resent that," he said with a little laugh in his voice. "With me around, you shouldn't be surprised by moments like this."

Amy couldn't help but let out a small smile. "Moments...of beauty?"

Jonah blushed, remembering his very first effort to win Amy over. He was glad that it had made an impression back then, but it still made him blush when she'd bring it up now. Amy always had a way of teasing him - she'd tell him he was being condescending- hell she had told him as much just moments after meeting him for the first time. Elitest. Pejorative. Cheesy. She was always giving him a hard time.

"I'm still impressed that you pulled off the stunt with the stars on the ceiling. I will never know how you got that all done. It was very sweet."

"It was sweet, wasn't it?" Amy smacked him playfully on the arm. It was true. She hated when he was right.

Jonah smiled back at her. He had really pulled out all the stops... but that was back before he found out that Amy was married. After he HAD found out, he had backed off on the grand gestures. For months, their painful work-flirt went on, but he often felt it was one-sided. Now, though... now that the two had been secretly meeting up outside of work sometimes twice a week, Jonah was back to his normal... always trying to think of ways to show Amy how he really felt about her, without letting on to anyone else. It was difficult - she had been VERY clear: No one at the store could find out about them. Not only would it endanger her home-situation, which would affect her daughter, but it would affect both of their jobs.

For a moment, neither of them spoke. Cheyanne was one of the last to drive away from her parking space, and she pulled up beside Jonah and Amy, and rolled down her window.

"Night guys. See you tomorrow," she said. She still looked sad, which in turn made Amy feel bad. She pulled away, and Jonah noticed that the smile was no longer on Amy's face.

Jon ah broke the silence; "Aimes... what I was saying earlier? Before the circus started up... ? You shouldn't feel bad about bursting Cheyanne's bubble. You were just doing what you do for everyone - you were just trying to help. You were being a good friend and looking out for her - her AND her baby. You were absolutely right to be concerned when she started talking about dropping out of school - she hasn't been known to make the best decisions... I mean, it didn't sound to me like she was just enjoying the dream... I absolutely thought that she was serious."

Amy looked over at Jonah. "I know. She just looked so sad when she told me that I'd stomped all over her dream. I thought she was actually going to drop out of school. That poor kid..."

"I know. I'm sure being a pregnant teenager is hard, but then again, it was her poor decision making that got her into that mess..." Jonah stopped, too late, only realizing what he'd said after the words tumbled out. Why did that always happen to him around Amy.

If Amy had looked sad moments earlier, now her expression just rad cold. Jonah hadn't meant to insult her. He knew that she had her daughter young- he didn't mean to draw a parallel between the two, but he couldn't take his words back. Amy didn't speak and Jonah drew in his breath sharply. He hated to say something stupid, but saying something that hurt her was beyond stupid. The worst thing he could do now was to say more...but it's Jonah.

"I didn't...I didn't mean to..." Jonah sputtered, looking for the right words.

"I know what you meant," Amy said, with an edge to her voice. But more than that, she sounded sad again.

"I didn't mean you," Jonah tried to argue, "Your situation was different."

"Not that different," Amy said quietly.

"I'm sorry." Jonah decided the best thing he could do was to be quiet. The few times he genuinely felt like he'd upset Amy, he truly felt horrible. He already knew that Amy had so many regrets about marrying young, about having her daughter when she was just nineteen - she had confided to him that she felt like she'd missed out on so much- why did he have to say something so stupid. He was mentally kicking himself.

Jonah looked around the parking lot, realizing that they were finally alone.

"This might be a bad time... maybe I shouldn't even... maybe I..." Jonah tripped over his words, but he couldn't find the right ones.

"Did you still want me to come by your place tonight?" Amy said, finding the words for him. Jonah had no idea what to say. He thought he'd upset her, but now he was just confused and his words got all jumbled, "I do... if you... I mean... you still... did you..." he trailed off.

Without looking back at him, Amy unlocked her car, and got in. "I'll be over in ten... I'm going to stop at 7-Eleven. And hey..." Jonah stepped away from her car as she started it. He was really surprised that she wanted to come over after what he'd said.

She looked out the window at him, "You good on... um..."

Still surprised by her weird behavior, Jonah completely blanked on what she was asking and he turned to look at her confused.

"Condoms. Do you have. any.. condoms?" She couldn't have been anymore blunt. It wasn't like her at all, and Jonah was concerned. He just nodded his head and Amy pulled away, leaving him standing there.

It wasn't often that Amy confused him so completely, but he had expected some sharp words about how stupid he'd been to insult her like that, or a witty but sharp comment about how he should think before he speaks, but instead she wanted to come over... and have sex? Without another word, Jonah walked to his car and got in. He watched Amy's car turn right from the parking lot as he put his messenger bag down on the passenger seat of his car. Still confused, he drove out of the parking lot and headed home. 


	2. Chapter 2 - You Actually Came

Chapter 2: She Actually Showed Up

Once he got in his car, Jonah realized the reality of the situation. He glanced down at his phone and looked at his text messages. It was the only place he and Amy were able to really communicate most of the time. He didn't think they'd talked about Amy coming over that night.

He scrolled back through his text messages, glancing over some of their recent exchanges.

 **Txt Msgs  
** **7.14.16** **8:29 am  
** **Message from "Amy Work":** Last night was incredible. Tuesday same?

 **8:35 am  
** **Message from "Collections- DO NOT ANSWER":** You don't have to ask me twice.

 **8:35 am  
** **Message from "Collections- DO NOT ANSWER":** I feel like Glenn looks at me every time I pick up my phone. If he sees you looking at yours, he's going to think we're ignoring the meeting and texting each other. We'd should be careful.

 **8:36 am  
** **Message from "Amy Work":** We r ignoring the meeting. And ttxting each other.

 **8:36 am  
** **Message from "Collections- DO NOT ANSWER":** Touché. I can't concentrate on anything anyway.

 **8:36 am  
** **Message from "Amy Work":** u can't stop thinking about me :-P 

**8:37 am  
** **Message from "Collections- DO NOT ANSWER":** Can't stop thinking about going down on you again.

 **8:37 am  
** **Message from "Amy Work":** K. have to stop now. Garrett just asked why my ears are bright red. He's getting suspicious. He probably thinks I'm sexting.

 **8:38 am  
** **Message from "Collections- DO NOT ANSWER":** So I shouldn't go into detail about exactly what I want to do to you?

 **8:38 am  
** **Message from "Amy Work":** Tuesday. ;-) ****

 **7.22.16**

 **12:49 am  
** **Message from "Collections- DO NOT ANSWER":** I already miss you.  
I hate the schedule this week, I feel like I've barely seen you.

 **12:51 am  
** **Message from "Amy Work":** Almost home. have to stop texting. :-( See u tomorrow.

 **12:52 am  
** **Message from "Collections- DO NOT ANSWER":** Goodnight, beautiful.

 **  
** **7.25.16  
**  
 **3:49 pm  
** **Message from "Collections- DO NOT ANSWER":** You look amazing today.

 **3:51 pm  
** **Message from "Amy Work":** Today?

 **3:51 pm  
** **Message from "Collections- DO NOT ANSWER":** You know what I meant.

 **3:52 pm  
** **Message from "Amy Work":** That I don't USUALLY look good?

 **3:54 pm  
** **Message from "Collections- DO NOT ANSWER":** :-(

 **3:56 pm  
** **Message from "Collections- DO NOT ANSWER":** Aimes?

 **3:59 pm  
** **Message from "Collections- DO NOT ANSWER":** You look *especially* amazing today.

 **3:59 pm  
** **Message from "Amy Work":** Better.

 **4:04 pm  
** **Message from "Collections- DO NOT ANSWER":** You're going to kill me.

 **4:05 pm  
** **Message from "Amy Work":** Oh...now don't make promises you won't keep.

 **4:06 pm  
** **Message from "Collections- DO NOT ANSWER":** ;-)

 **** **7.22.16  
**  
 **9:55 pm  
** **Message from "Collections- DO NOT ANSWER":** coming tnite?

 **9:55 pm**  
 **Message from "Amy Work":** O, Im cuming tonite.

 **9:56 pm  
** **Message from "Collections- DO NOT ANSWER":** just once? :-(

 **9:57 pm  
** **Message from "Amy Work":** well I guess that depends on u now doesn't it?

 **9:58 pm  
** **Message from "Collections- DO NOT ANSWER":** then the answer is no.

 **9:58 pm  
** **Message from "Amy Work":** No?

 **9:58 pm  
** **Message from "Amy Work":** ...NO?!

 **9:59 pm  
** **Message from "Collections- DO NOT ANSWER":** No way it'll be just once. ;-)

 **10:00 pm  
** **Message from "Amy Work":** Good answer.

 **** **8.03.16**

 **8:45 am  
** **Message from "Collections- DO NOT ANSWER":** Hey. How you doing? Can you come over tonight?

 **8:45 am  
** **Message from "Amy Work":** as long as we get out of the store by 11. I have to get home by midnite. emma's getting dropped off early and if I don't get at least a few hours sleep...

 **8:46 am  
** **Message from "Collections- DO NOT ANSWER":** So I need to sufficiently wear you out in under an hour?

 **8:46 am**  
 **Message from "Amy Work":** Hasn't been a problem yet ;-)

 **8:48 am  
** **Message from "Collections- DO NOT ANSWER":** glad to hear it. Let's make sure we get out of the store by 11 of course my awesome boss is feeling nice and let's me out early tonite…

 **8:51 am**

 **Message from "Collections- DO NOT ANSWER":** so no?

 **8:51 am**

 **Message from "Collections- DO NOT ANSWER":** …..

 **8:53 am  
** **Message from "Amy Work":** Sorry, it's not easy to text right now. Im at home and Emma wants to use my phone. I have to be really careful. I almost forgot to delete our messages last night. Even though you're saved in my phone as a bill collector, my daughter is 11. She can read, she's not stupid. If she ever caught one of our conversations, the gig would be up.

 **8:54 am**

 **Message from "Collections- DO NOT ANSWER":** Is okay. If you can't talk, just let me know. I'm not trying to get you in trouble, you know that.

 **8:55 am  
** **Message from "Amy Work":** no, It's okay. i just didn't want her looking over my shoulder when we're making plans. I'll see you tonite for sure, but there's a lot going on, so don't think that kissing up is going to get you out early. If you leave early, I'll end up stuck there until I have to be home.

 **8:56 am**

 **Message from "Collections- DO NOT ANSWER":** sooo…. an hour really going to be enough?

 **8:57 am  
** **Message from "Amy Work":** don't flatter yourself. See you at your place. Get out of here while I'm finishing the schedule for next week. I'll be there as soon as I can.

 **8:59 am  
** **Message from "Collections- DO NOT ANSWER":** ;-) 

He finally got to the messages from earlier that day - There had been a lot of mundane chit-chat from the two hours Amy spent in Glenn's office, on hold with corporate (she had an accident report to file for a customer who slipped in the grocery section the day before).

While waiting on hold, she'd killed the time by texting Jonah who was stuck working by himself in jewelry. Jonah had to hide his phone from Dina who was on the war path (a customer had complained about "an associate who was using his phone while on the floor" a few days earlier, and she was hell-bent on catching someone with their phone. Jonah had gone so far as to bring his old phone with him, to make a big show of locking it in his locker when Dina would see him - he couldn't get busted with his phone out because there was NO WAY she wouldn't rip it out of his hands and read the exchange.

Most of that days messages were about Amy's concerns about Emma possibly being bullied at school. Emma was taking summer classes and Amy was proud of her daughters ambition- she certainly hadn't inherited her work ethic from Adam.

But things were different that Saturday morning. Meme had apparently faked being sick that morning and Adam had fallen for it- he'd let her stay home with no questions asked, and when Amy got home from an early morning district meeting, she found her 11 year old sitting at the computer playing Minecraft. Apparently Adam had gone back to bed, and Amy was PISSED. Emma wouldn't give her a straight answer about what was going on, but it was too late to take her to school for the rest at that point, and Amy was really irritated.

It didn't get any better when Adam was STILL asleep at 3pm when Amy had to leave for her shift - as much as Amy tried not to talk to Jonah about her problems at home; especially her problems with Adam, today that's pretty much all their conversation was about.

But anyway… Jonah looked over all of the messages they'd exchanged that day and sure enough, there was nothing that would indicate that Amy planned on coming to see him that night. There was nothing particularly interesting in the messages from that day at all -nothing dirty, no flirting, and sure enough...definately no mention of her coming over that night.

For a moment, Jonah thought that maybe Amy was messing with his head. Maybe she was really pissed at him, and she wasn't actually going to show up.

On the other hand, if Amy wasn't screwing with his head, it oxcured to Jonah that his place was a disaster. Amy hadn't been over in several days and he hadn't exactly stayed on top of straightening up. He took a quick mental inventory and realized he had three days of laundry and wet towels from his shower that morning laying all over his bathroom floor. He was positive that his sink had several days of dishes stacked up and his bathroom was a wreck. He hadn't cleaned the sink from shaving, one of Amy's biggest pet peeves was hair everywhere. Jonah wasn't usually a slob, but he'd been especially aware of keeping his place nice since it was the only place he and Amy were able to relax and be together- so he decided that if she was going to come by, he had better get home. If Amy really was on her way over, he didn't want her walking into his place with it looking like a total dump.

Jonah drove home fairly quickly and parked his car outside of his apartment. His downstairs neighbor, Carol Rathwell, was a lonely heavyset older woman with several cats, who often paid far too much attention to Jonah's life. She was a kind but nosy woman, and Jonah was nice to everyone. He often carried some of the many shop-at-home packages that arrived for her into her place for her. She saw him pull up and opened her door as he headed for the stairs that were just outside her door. She smiled and waved at him.

"Your little lady friend coming by this evening, Jonas?" She asked.

Jonah blushed and smiled wider than he meant to. She NEVER got his name right. He gave his neighbor a little wave, "I think she might be, Mrs. Rathwell. I've got to get my place straightened up… it's good to see you too, you have a nice evening!"

"You too, Jonas, you too," she called back. She'd been calling him Jonas since he'd moved there from Chicago, and he never had the heart to correct her. He took the steps to his second floor apartment two at a time.

Jonah unlocked his door and the deadbolt and tossed his keys on the table just inside his door. He reached under and turned on the table lamp and looked around his apartment to survey the damage and formulate a plan. He quickly realized that he'd left a much bigger mess than he'd originally thought. He flew into the kitchen, grabbing food trash and leftover containers and dumping them into the stainless steel trash can by his fridge. He grabbed the French press that he'd left behind when he headed into work that afternoon and dumped the cold coffee into the sink, but the top came loose and the wet grounds dumped out all over his hand, landing half on the counter and all over the sink. He grabbed the sprayer and started washing the grounds off of the empty takeout containers and dishes that littered the sink, and rinsed some dried scrambled eggs off a plate. He glanced at the clock over his microwave and realized he had less time than he thought... if she was really coming,

Amy would be there any minute.

He chased the last of the coffee grounds down the drain while he glanced around anxiously before shoving the whole French press, along with several used takeout containers and a pile of dirty dishes he didn't have time to wash,and piled them into the cabinet above him.

He darted into the bathroom and wiped down the sink and the counter with a pair of boxer briefs he scooped off the floor and wiped up all the tiny remnants of hair from his electric razor that was everywhere. He tossed the razor into his hamper, and dumped everything else in on top of it - he was just going to hope that Amy wasn't going to want to take a shower. He didn't think he hadn't any clean towels...

Before he could finish the thought, he heard a light knock at his door, and then he heard it open. Amy didn't usually wait for an answer, and tonight was no exception.

(To be a little more discreet, Amy had taken to parking in the lot behind his building where a nightshift bakery was located. It was a busy lot full of cars all night, so hers was camouflaged. Jonah's apartment was right off the main road, and putting her car out front would be like posting a billboard that she was at his place. They'd also agreed that she would knock, but that she should just let herself in so she didn't have to stand around waiting to be let in. Up to this point, they'd always discussed getting together before she showed up anyway, so it was never a surprise when she showed up.)

Jonah poked his head out of the bathroom when he heard the door. He was still a little surprised to see Amy standing there. Surprised, he dumped the rest of the mess he'd been scrambling to clean up into the hamper.

"You actually came." 


	3. Chapter 3 - Someone To Lean On

Chapter 3- Someone She Can Count On 

Jonah was genuinely surprised that Amy showed up he said as much.

"I said I was going to..." Amy seemed a bit odd, but she wasn't acting like she was upset with him. She dropped her Cloud9 vest and her purse on the table by the door. "So... are we going to..." 

Amy was never exactly shy but Jonah was genuinely shaken by her demeanor. She just seemed totally off, but he couldn't exactly put his finger on it.

"Uh...yeah, we... can. Are you... " Jonah paused, "Aim... I'm really sorry about what I said before, in the parking lot, about the whole having a baby as a teena..."

Before he could finish his though, Amy reached towards her waist, and pulled her purple button down up and off, over her head. Jonah stopped speaking.

She dropped the shirt on the floor, stepped towards Jonah, pressing her lips against his neck and then, nearly on her toes, her lips met his. She came at him with such force that she backed him towards his couch, lips locked together. Amy unbuttoned Jonah's plaid shirt without letting up, and dropped it on top of hers. Jonah stumbled and landed on his butt on the couch, with her quickly climbing on, where she ended up straddling him. She got tangled in his undershirt as she tried to pull it off without disengaging. Despite Amy's aggressive approach (and being on top of him in just her bra and black jeans), Jonah's eyes had closed the moment their lips came together. He was really getting into it when he felt something dripping down his cheek. Confused, his eyes fluttered open and he realized that even though she was still fully engaged in a passionate kiss; Amy had tears streaming down her face.

Jonah took Amy by the shoulders and, although she made a noise that indicated she didn't want to be stopped, he could clearly tell that there was something way bigger than sex on her mind, so he pulled away.

Once he finally separated their lips, she gave up the fight. Her head dropped and the tears kept flowing.

Jonah felt horrible. He felt like this was all his fault. Clearly what he said about being a pregnant teenager being a stupid decision has cut her deeply. He'd never seen her like this before. He had seen her cry before, but he'd never been the cause of it and he felt awful to the core.

"Aim... aim... Amy…" She was still crying but she wasn't speaking. Jonah tried again; "Amy, please. Say something. Please? I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to..."

She slid onto the couch to his side, so that she was no longer straddling him. Amy pushed three throw pillows to the floor and sank into the space between Jonah and the arm of the couch.

Any other time, she would have had a snarky comment about Jonah's metrosexual decoration of his "bachelor pad" but she didn't have any sarcasm in her. Finally calming enough to be able to speak between her tears, Jonah pulled her in tight and Amy put her head on his bare chest, nestling against his collarbone. Jonah rested his chin on the top of her head and took a deep breath, breathing in the smell of her fruity tropical-scented shampoo. Despite feeling awful about making her cry, he couldn't help but think about how good her skin felt against his, or how amazing her hair smelled.

Amy was finally able to find her words.

"It wasn't you, Jonah. It had nothing to do with what you said."

Finally Amy was able to speak and then her thoughts all came pouring out at once.

"I know, that you know, that I regret having had Emma when I was so young. I told you before- having her isn't a decision I'd change, even if I could. You know that I agree with you - getting pregnant and then married at 19 _wasn't_ exactly a string of my best decisions. But I know that you don't think I was ever on par with Cheyanne." Jonah nodded, glad that she had understood what he meant.

"That's not why I'm so upset." Embarrassed, Amy realized how awful she must look with tears streaking down her face. She was sure her nose was running and held her hands up to her face, trying to keep Jonah from seeing her all red and puffy and wet…

Jonah was genuinely relieved. He could tell from the tone of her voice that She absolutely meant what she'd said, and suddenly he realized that their text discussion earlier that day was more than just another in a long string of fights she'd complained about with Adam. As much as Jonah DEEPLY wanted to avoid the topic of Amy's marriage, specifically her problems with Adam, he had told her early on that as long as she and Adam weren't sleeping together, and as long as she was sure that she didn't see their marriage being repaired, he was okay with their new, and secret, relationship.

He would keep things discreet, and do his best to accept the time and attention that she could give him. He did his best to accept what she could give him without reservation, and without bitterness. Despite that - when he was being honest with himself, as much as it was because he didn't want to pry... there was a part of him that couldn't help but feeling REALLY guilty about sleeping with someone who was, even if by a technicality, still married... and not just to some guy she used to love...but to the father of her child. As much as Jonah had been pining for Amy since the moment he first laid eyes on her, "home wrecker" wasn't ever a thing that Jonah wanted to be. He genuinely believed her when she said that their relationship had been strained and that they hadn't slept together since before Christmas.

As Jonah waited for Amy to say something more, with their position on his couch, he couldn't help but to flash back to the last time she'd been to his apartment.

As Amy composed herself, his mind wandered and replayed what had happened the day after the first time she had been there. They had sat together on the couch, having a drink to ease the tension. As much as Jonah had sworn they were just getting together to talk, the tension was too much, and they'd ended up having sex in the same place they were now cuddled together...

There had been brief regret after that first night. The following morning, Jonah had decided that it absolutely couldn't happen again -at least, he told himself, until she was absolutely actually single.

They finished the craft beer that had been in his fridge for months, and then multiple shots of liquor. Later they killed an entire bottle of wine between them. Both of them had been unbelievably nervous and they had drink after drink of whatever he had around the house until both had calmed their nerves.

That next day, he had been several hours of an icy cold lump in his stomach. He thought at first that it was just a nasty hangover from the mixture of beer, red wine and sambuca... but after he'd reached the point of dry heaving on and off for an hour, Jonah realized that it was the cheating that was tearing him apart, more than the remnants of his hangover.

He'd called his own voicemail, from where he'd taken up residence on his bathroom floor, and he recorded a long rambling message of things he HAD to tell Amy when he saw her again.

Somehow, fourteen hours of sleep and two long shifts at work without her had passed before they had seen each other again. When he finally had seen her (in the store), the first thing she said to him was how badly she'd needed that night that they'd spent together, and how she really wanted to come back that night "to talk". Jonah immediately wondered if she was feeling the same regret he was and if she was going to break things off with him. 

He remembered her second visit to his place as clear as the moon on a cloudless night...

He had spent two hours of that 90 degree day in July, working in the stockroom (with a broken AC), helping to unload the truck and so he'd rushed home to get a shower before Amy arrived. He had expected her to get to his place after close, but Amy had managed to leave an hour early and had showed up while he was still in the shower.

He startled when he heard his front door, but he'd quickly grabbed a towel and stuck his head, hair still full of shampoo, out of the bathroom, to find Amy in his living room, grinning from ear to ear.

(Originally he thought there was a solid possibility that she'd had the same regrets that he'd felt. He was afraid she was coming over to discuss that it could never happen again. Worse, it had crossed his mind that after that first night of sex (with a fling out of the way) - that perhaps she'd gone home and decided to give her marriage another try.

What Jonah DIDN'T expect that night, was that instead of drawing a hard line and cutting things off, she ended up running her nails along his scalp, rinsing the rest of the shampoo from his thick black hair after she'd joined him in the shower. It was the only time she'd ever spent the entire night at his place. With Emma at a friend's house for a sleepover, and Adam out with his cousin who was visiting, they'd had an unforgettable night...

Just as Jonah's flashback was starting to stir up some... feelings... (but before his body really had a chance to respond to the memories), Amy coughes and his attention snapped back to the present.

Her warmth against him was a stark contrast to the chilly air in his apartment. Jonah reached across the couch to grab the undershirt she'd peeled off of him, and offered her the t-shirt for Amy tried to wipe the tears from her cheeks, to compose herself. Amy gratefully accepted it. Jonah took the shirt back from her and dropped it on the floor beside them, making a mental note to toss it in the hamper later. After a few more sniffles and a few awkward moments of silence, Amy finally spoke again, shaking Jonah the rest of his way from his flashback.

"I just don't know how much more I can take," she confided. She put her head back in the space against his collarbone, where she seemed to fit so comfortably. Jonah reached behind him, without having to disturb either of them much, and pulled the fleece throw from the back of his couch.

Her first time in his apartment, Amy had been nervous. She'd made several jokes about his decor, and that very blanket had been one of the "not very bachelor-like" items she'd given him a hard time about...but now, it was soft and it was warm, and with his one available arm (the one that wasn't holding her to his chest), he pulled the blanket around them both.

Amy didn't have to actually say it, but Jonah could tell she genuinely appreciated it. After pulling the blanket around them both, Amy curled her feet up on the couch, tucking herself fully under its warmth, and Jonah's free hand could feel the goosebumps that had appeared on her bare skin disappear as quickly as they'd showed up. Amy nodded her approval of the warm blanket and Jonah put his chin back down on top of her head, resting it gently there, without actually applying any weight.

"I just don't know how much more I can handle, Jonah," she said again. "Seriously. I know that you don't want to hear about my problems with Adam, but I FRIGGIN lost it this morning when I came home and found Emma sitting there on the computer. She was eating EASTER candy and playing Minecraft in her pajamas at NOON. On a school day! And HE was ASLEEP, Jonah." Amy barely took a breath before continuing to vent, "Emma basically said 'oh, dad, I'm sick.' and that jackass just ACCEPTED it, without question, and then he WENT BACK TO BED. She had PERFECT ATTENDANCE, Jonah. She had a science test today. And she wasn't REMOTELY sick. She flat out said that she didn't even PRETEND to BE sick. She just told that jackass that she was sick, and he took an eleven year's word at old at face value and then he went. back. to bed. And I think the worst part of all of it, was that I was in class when all this happened, and eight hours later when I'm getting my shit together to head into work, that asshole is still SOUND ASLEEP. Like we've got no bills to pay, like we've got no worries in the world... I had to ground my daughter for lying and skipping school, and then basically left her at home to babysit her father."

Jonah nodded, understanding that all she needed was for him to listen.

"She was upset about not getting an invitation to a birthday party, Jonah. It was the kind of thing that I could have gotten to the bottom of in about two minutes, and she would have been in class, taking her test, and feeling like she could handle the situation. But instead, she learned that her father is an IDIOT, and if I'm at work, she's got an easy out to just NOT DEAL with her problems. That's what she's taking away from his parenting- that avoiding your problems is a way to deal with them. It's not okay."

Amy was practically out of breath, and Jonah squeezed her against him as a show of support. He was starting to learn that sometimes it was better NOT to talk. Amy was rarely looking for him to have a solution, on the rare occasion that she told him about her troubles (especially regarding her daughter)- He was finally figuring out that she often just needed him to stay quiet.

"I'm sorry that I just sprung this on you... That I just came over here without any real warning tonight. I'm sorry if you had... plans...or anything.."

Jonah lifted his head from atop hers and shifted his body and turned to actually look her in the eye. "Amy, no. I...it's totally fine. I'm glad you wanted to come over. I didn't, you know..." Jonah took a deep breath. She still flustered him so thoroughly. "No- I didn't have any plans. I don't ...have anyone else...I'd be making plans with..."

They hadn't really discussed the rules of their relationship. Since they'd started having sex, Amy sort of assumed that Jonah wasn't seeing anyone else, and Jonah wasn't about to mess things up by seeing someone else when he was pretty sure it would hurt Amy, but it was unspoken. Besides the painful longing of not being able to see her whenever he wanted (or being able to text her when she might be at home), he was otherwise content with their situation- he didn't want to see anyone else anyway.

That thought crossed his mind and pressed him to continue, "You know you're always welcome here... Right? That even if you just wanted to talk... You know you aren't only welcome here just to come over and have sex. You know you can just come and like... hang out, right?"

Amy kind of let out a little laugh. "Well, I didn't think there was like, an entry fee or anything, but... "

Jonah smiled at that. "I know, but seriously, you know you can just talk if you feel like talking. I just mean... You've been to my apartment eight times in the last four weeks...(he noticed she'd raised an eyebrow) Well, okay nine, I guess, technically..."

"Seriously? I surprise you BEFORE work for a quickie and that totally slips you mind?" Amy asks, mocking offense in her voice, but with a smile on her face.

"It was a brief lapse in memory. I DEFINITELY did not forget. I couldn't walk normal for an hour, I was twenty minutes late to work, and I couldn't stop staring at you for the entire rest of the shift. It was cruel. Bordering on inhumane."

Amy let out a genuine laugh, one of those where her eyes lit up and sparkled and with that, it was Jonah's turn to get goosebumps.

"I just meant that you can come over here, if you're upset, or even if you just need someone to listen... I just want you to know that I don't expect sex from you every time you come over here...I mean... You seemed a little gung-ho tonight, you really threw me for a loop coming over here and throwing yourself at me..."

Now Amy was really laughing. "Throwing myself at you, huh?"

"I don't know, you were all (Jonah raises his voice to a laughably high pitch, mimicking Amy) 'You've got plenty of condoms, right?' - and then you come in here, tearing your clothes off, tearing mine off, pinning me down.." Jonah was being intentionally over dramatic and was laughing by that point, too.

Amy rolled her eyes at him for the second time that night. "Oh please. If I had been able to let the garbage go from this morning, you'ld be halfway to the moon and back by now, babe. You didn't seem to have ANY issues with me 'throwing myself at you.'

Jonah smiled at her and pulled her back against him. "Of course not. And I never would. But I really don't mind you just coming to talk. I mean that." And then after a moment of thought he continued, "and honestly... I think we killed the condoms the other night. I don't think I actually have any left... So it's kind of a good thing that you're not here for sex."

Amy sat up, taking the blanket with her as she crawled to the opposite end of the couch and reached between her purse and her Cloud9 vest. "Oh, I'm not here for sex?" she asked, feigning innocence.

Jonah watched her lean over the end of the couch, enjoying the view. "Guess it's a good thing I stopped at 7-11," she said, as she tossed the plastic bag at Jonah, before she rejoined him on the couch.

Jonah opened the bag and found a bottle of organic fresh squeezed orange juice -with extra pulp- and a box of Durex. "You're so thoughtful," he laughed. "Which one should I open first?"

Shaking off the last of her sniffles, Amy wrapped the blanket around the both of them, pulling herself back into Jonah's lap. She reached back and slid off her shoes, kicking them off, one at a time, onto the living room floor behind her.

"Hmm.. I don't know. Your call, I suppose," she said. Before giving him much chance to think about it, she stood up,tucked her thumbs into the waist of her black jeans as she slid them down off her hips, past her thighs, until they were below her knees where she could step out of them.

Jonah immediately noticed that she was wearing a matching set he recognized... a blue bra and a thong that she'd worn once before and he'd commented how much he enjoyed it. It was a beautiful teal blue color (he'd mentioned how nice the color was against her caramel-colored tan skin, but when he mentioned how it made her eyes stand out, Amy had laughed at him.)

It was also special to him because it was new, a gift Amy had bought herself after getting an A on two of her final exams. She'd texted him two photos from a dressing room at the mall, and he'd received them in the middle of his shift. He texted her back that he would have excused himself to deal with the situation she's created... If only jacking off in the bathroom at Cloud9 didn't disgust him so thoroughly.

She joked about meeting him in the photo lab, but that text had just made Jonah sad...

It would be a long time, if ever, before they could get away with hooking up at work. The possibility of getting caught in that scenario wasn't hot and exciting...it was just downright terrifying.

As much as Jonah genuinely found Amy to be incredibly attractive no matter what she was wearing...something about that set... And knowing that she'd bought it specifically with him seeing it in mind, made it seem extra... enticing.

Amy picked the blanket back up, pulled it around her back, and climbed back over Jonah, straddling him once again. She wrapped the blanket around them both, before nuzzling against his neck, and eventually making her way back to his lips. This time, Jonah was fully relaxed and focused entirely on the sensations at hand... Quite literally - he was working on the clasp at the back of the bra when Amy briefly pulled back, gently sucking on his lower lip before letting go... She gestured her head toward his bedroom, and without a word, Jonah dug his heels under the couch, propelling himself forward, scooping her up in one motion. He wrapped her legs around him, supporting her weight with one arm, while he reached back on the couch to grab the bag from 7-11.

"Good idea," Amy said, allowing herself to be carried the fifteen feet between his couch and the doorway of his bedroom... At that point, she took the bag, slid the lightswitch slider down (making his bedroom darker, but not quite dark) as she gestured toward Jonah (who was shirtless, but still wearing his pants from work)

"You're overdressed. Time to catch up."

Jonah complied- he slid his pants off as he crossed his bedroom, joining her on the bed, and pulling her towards him.

As it would turn out, that would be the second night Amy would spend at Jonah's apartment. Only... Unlike the first time, some seven weeks earlier, this time her husband WAS at home, and he had no idea where she was. Amy and Jonah got lost in each other for a longer time than usual that night... Amy definitely didn't mean to doze off after sex...but she was so emotionally worn out from the whole day that it just...sort of... happened.

But the fallout from that night wouldn't be dealt with until the sun came up the following morning, when they both woke up and had to face reality...


	4. Chapter 4 - Starting to Get Messy

Chapter 4- Repercussions. Things are starting to get Messy.

Amy woke up first. The first thing that happened when she opened her eyes was she realized she hadn't set her alarm the night before. Like most mornings, she panicked but couldn't remember if she was supposed to be at work early in the morning. She turned her head and found pillows. A mountain of pillow... and then she sat BOLT upright, realizing what had happened.

That was when she realized that Jonah was face down, completely naked (except for socks- how HAD that happened) just a few inches away. Panicking, Amy grabbed his shoulder and Jonah startled awake.

"Oh my god, what time is it?"

Jonah sat up, reached over to his nightstand (that had been knocked away from the bed at some point in the craziness) - he struggled to reach for the alarm clock and finally got ahold of it by the cord, spinning it towards him.

8:43

Amy and Jonah stared at each other in shocked silence.

"I was supposed to be home... "

Jonah immediately scrambled - he was a fixer. It's what he does. But in the moment he had no idea how to fix this situation.

"Oh my god, where is my phone?" Amy went to jump up, but found her feet unsteady under her. Jonah couldn't help but smirk as she scrambled to pick up the trail of clothing that led across his bedroom floor from the night before, but he was immediately shaken back to reality by his alarm clock going off.

Jonah figured he'd save the day in the only way he could think. "I'll go find your phone...while you get dressed ..." he couldn't help but stealing a last look back at her as he left the bedroom. It was only once he reached his living room that he was acutely aware of his nakedness. He scooped up the tshirt that he'd given Amy the night before to dry her tears, and threw it on, suddenly feeling extremely exposed to be standing around in nothing but socks. "Found it!" He exclaimed, grabbing Amy's phone from the table by the front door.

He resisted the urge to look at her phone screen on the way to delivering it to Amy, but a light on the front was blinking aggressively, and indication that she likely had several messages waiting for her. Jonah swallowed hard, thinking about the lies that they might have to come up with in order to fix this situation. He met Amy in the doorway, and somehow, that fast, she was completely dressed. She handed him the skinny jeans he'd been wearing the night before, and he handed over her cell phone. As he stepped into his pants, he watched Amy's expression carefully, and she took and deep breathe before unlocking her phone.

"Forty...two... missed calls. And nineteen text messages... Oh my god..." Amy trailed off. Jonah caught a glimpse of his hair in the mirror on the wall of his bedroom, and nervously ran his fingers through it. He waited for Amy to speak again, but she was obviously surveying the damage of what they had done.

After a moment, she broke the silence. "The calls are from the house phone... it must have been Emma calling last night. I feel... awful."

For the second time in a short span of time, Jonah had to swallow back a lump in his throat, feeling awful and responsible for Amy's stress.

"Okay. First things first..." Amy fumbled with her phone, dialing, and when a small but excited female voice picked up on the other end, Jonah took a deep breath. As bad as he felt, at least he didn't have to hear her lie to her husband.

"Mom...where ARE you? Are you okay? I thought you were going to be here when Grandma brought me home last night,but then you weren't and I was so worried.."

Amy took a sharp breath in, clearly not wanting to lie to her daughter. "I'm fine. I'm with... people from work, and I'm fine. I'm sorry you were worried, is everything okay? Is daddy there with you?"

Jonah couldn't hear Emma's response, but Amy's demeanor relaxed, and Jonah felt so much better. Just then, another horrible thought crossed his mind.

Holy shit. What time do I have to work today?

Jonah bolted out of the bedroom so fast that he slid on the carpet runner on the bare wood floor. He made enough noise that Amy turned to look at him, while she continued talking to Emma on the phone. Jonah made it to his kitchen where he had a dry erase board on his fridge with his schedule noted on it. He ran his finger down the black ink and found it... Monday...Monday...

Monday 8/22- 4pm- close

Next to that was written, (Amy 3-CL)

Relieved that at least neither was late for work, Jonah was started by Amy's voice as she turned on the sink behind him, refilling a glass of water that Jonah had brought her, thoughtfully, many hours earlier. Amy finished her phone call by reminding her daughter that she still had three more days of summer-school classes to go and that she couldn't miss another day if she wanted to get credit. Reminding her daughter that she also had a swim meet to get ready for that evening, she hung up the phone.

"Why is Emma taking science classes over the summer?" Jonah asked.

"It's an invitation-only program to get her ready for middle school," Amy explained. "She wants to take these advanced level courses AND French, and the only way to do that was to get ahead before the school year starts. I just hope that missing that test didn't mess everything up for her."

"So... is everything... okay?" Jonah asked, unsure of how Amy had explained her overnight absence.

"I hate lying to her, Jonah."

"I wish... I wish you didn't have to."

With that, Amy took another swallow of water. Jonah didn't want to broach the subject of Adam, but he was genuinely curious how Amy was going to explain having never come home. The last time she'd spent the night, Adam wasn't around for almost two days, so her absence wasn't noticed (and that whole time she'd kept her phone painfully close, even answering a text message during an awkward moment in bed - but Jonah knew that doing so made her more relaxed, so he hadn't minded.) Amy put the empty glass in the sink and Jonah looked around, unsure if he should offer her breakfast or weather he should be encouraging her to rush home. He definitely didn't want her to leave, but then, that was a constant problem for him. No amount of time the spent together ever felt like enough anymore.

Just then, a knock at his door shook both of them to the core. Unsure if she could be seen by anyone at the door, Amy immediately dropped to the floor and out of sight. Jonah looked panic stricken- no one ever came to his apartment he he couldn't possibly imagine why anyone would chose THIS moment to start. Jonah looked at Amy and gestured questioningly- suddenly the feeling that they were about to be caught was overwhelming and it was TERRIFYING. Jonah knew that there was no possible was that Adam would be at his door, but he couldn't shake the image from his mind. He had the distinct impression that he was about to get punched in the face.

Amy looked equally panicked, but gestured him towards the door. In the incredibly rare and odd chance that Adam had someone figured out where Jonah lived - and had somehow found Amy's car... both of them stood frozen as the person at the door knocked, more impatiently, a second time.

Jonah shrugged at Amy before tentatively making his way to the door. He swung it open, as ready as one could be to meet their maker.

Standing outside the door was his car-lady neighbor from downstairs.

"Mrs. Rathwell..."

"Jonas dear... there was a gentleman from the bakery behind our building downstairs talking to the Super this morning. He was going on about the - parked in their lot, he said that one of the bakery employees said that it belonged to a young woman from our building. The bakery manager was laying into Richard about people from our units parking in their lot, and Richard was going on and on about how the plate didn't match any of our residents. The jerk from the bakery said that if it wasn't gone by the time he got back in tonight, he was going to have it towed. I overheard the conversation and thought that it was possible that the vehicle belongs to your new lady friend..."

She looked over Jonah's shoulder, into his apartment, noticing the purse and the Cloud9 vest with a name tag that read "Raquel". Knowingly, she winked at Jonah and finished up, "I just wanted to let you know dear, so that you didn't have an unpleasant surprise. I'll let you get back to... whatever you've got... going on."

Jonah could feel his face flushing. "Thank you...for letting us know..." - catching himself he immediately tried to correct himself, but the purse beside him was a dead give-away. "Thanks for letting me know, Mrs. Rathwell - you have a heavenly day, k?..." with that, Jonah cringed. He hated when work crept into his psyche. He shut the door, and turned around to find Amy just standing up in the kitchen.

"Well. That was..."

"Terrifying," she finished for him.

"I know. I hate this," Jonah said in a rare moment of complete honesty. He was usually so positive, he hadn't brought up any of the negatives of their relationship at all. He'd never once complained about the periods of silence when Amy was at home. He'd never complained that she had to delete all his text messages, or about how he was saved in her phone. (Telemarketer- Do Not Answer).

Amy looked sad too, but she reached out and pulled Jonah towards her. "Thanks for having me over...even if I totally didn't mean for this to turn into an all night thing..."

Jonah kissed her on the forehead but looked concerned. "Are you going to be okay? Is everything going to be ... okay.. when you get ..." he trailed off.

"Home?" Amy asked. Jonah nodded, she couldn't see him but she could feel it as she was still pressed against him. "I'll handle it. From what Emma said, Adam didn't seem to notice I was gone. He was up all night playing Call of Duty, and if he noticed that I never came home, he never mentioned it to her. I don't know if I should be more disturbed or relieved." Jonah didn't really know how to respond. Was Amy sad that Adam hadn't noticed her missing all night? Was she sad because she still held out hope of fixing their marriage? Jonah tried to ignore the implications but it was in his DNA to overthink things. As much as he tried to keep a cheery exterior, his mind was a whirlwind of thought at all times. This was no exception.

"I guess I'd better get going," she said, finally breaking their embrace. Jonah nodded. It was all he could really bring himself to do. He didn't want to let her go, but he did.

Amy looked around the apartment to see if there was anything she'd left behind. She found her shoes by the couch and pulled them on. She stuffed her Cloud9 vest into her back pocket and her purse. Her phone battery was almost dead after having gone off all night without being plugged in. She stopped after gathering her things and gave Jonah a genuine kiss that helped to melt his concerns. "I'm sorry that I can't stay for breakfast. I'm sure I would have enjoyed that artisanal crepe place you keep talking about."

Jonah smirked. He knew she was half kidding.

"I'll see you tonight? At the store?" Jonah nodded. "I'm in at three, you're in at four."

Amy nodded and gave him a final quick embrace. It was back to the real world. Back to the grind. Back to keeping their secret. Anymore, his apartment was the only place where Amy felt like she could really breathe and be herself. Anymore, it was getting harder to go each time she left.

Amy opened the door and Jonah nodded to her one final time. "See you tonight."

Neither of them noticed that Jonah had transposed the times they were due into work that night. Things were starting to get really messy. 


	5. Chapter 5 - Cover For Me?

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blockquote class="userstuff" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 1em; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0.643em; padding: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; word-wrap: break-word;"  
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h3 id="work" class="landmark heading" style="border-width: 0px 0px 0.25em; border-image: initial; outline: 0px; font-weight: 500; font-style: inherit; font-size: 0px; font-family: Georgia, serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0.125em; line-height: 0; word-break: break-all; opacity: 0; height: 0px; clear: both; color: transparent; border-color: initial initial #333333 initial; border-style: initial initial double initial;"Chapter Text/h3  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" /p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" /p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Jonah arrived at work at that evening, genuinely on edge about what had happened when Amy got home. He had kind of expected a text from her at some point during the day, but none came. He arrived at work at quarter to three and headed for the break room. He opened his boxed water and put his feet up on a chair, giving himself a few minutes to relax before his shift began. He quickly gave himself a sniff-check and realized that wasn't sure if he had put on deodorant after his shower./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Mateo breezed into the room just then. Jonah looked up from the copy of the store magazine he was thumbing through. Looking over the copy of Stratus, he saw the strange look on Mateo's face when he noticed Jonah./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;""Are you just spending your free time here now, or were you coming in early to squeeze in extra time with Amy?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Jonah flinched. He knew that being ribbed about Amy was by no means anything new, but it seemed extra crucial anymore to keep their situation under wraps. Then he realized what Mateo had asked./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;""I'm in at three," Jonah said, confused. He put down the magazine and stood up to open his locker. He kept a second copy of his schedule there, inside his locker door, on a post-it. He opened the locker and ran his finger down the handwritten schedule (he recognized Amy's handwriting and he could feel his ears heat up)./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;""See... Monday... Monday... four pm." Jonah cocked his head to the side, confused./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Mateo put two quarters in the vending machine with his back to Jonah. "Right. Four. That's..." he glanced at the clock in the break room. "That's a hour and ten minutes from now. Surely you have a screening of a silent film, or a newly released hair product to stand in line for somewhere..?" Mateo was never one to pull punches./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Then it struck Jonah what had happened. If he was an hour early... that meant that Amy wasn't expecting to come in until 4. He'd told her the wrong time in all the excitement of the knock on his door that morning. Mateo watched the color drain from Jonah's face, but brushed it off and unwrapped his granola bar before taking a bite./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;""Oh well. Listen, when Amy gets here, tell her that Glenn is looking for her. He said something about needing to change one of the days she had asked for off because of a management meeting... so tell her to talk to him before she heads out to the floor."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Jonah barely heard him, as he was already fumbling with his cell phone. He slid open the screen, pulled up Amy's number and started furiously tapping./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Amy's phone chirped./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"strong style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"7.23.16/strong/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"span style="text-decoration: underline;"strong style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"2:51 pm/strong /spanbr /Message from "Collections- DO NOT ANSWER": I screwed up. Big time. You were supposed to be here at THREE. I was supposed to be in at four./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"br /His phone vibrated in response just seconds later./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"br /p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"span style="text-decoration: underline;"strong style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"2:51 pm/strong/spanbr /Message from "The most beautiful girl in the world": You've GOT to be kidding me. I'm dropping Emma off at her swim meet and I'm 30 minutes away. YOU SAID FOUR this morning, I didn't think you were guessing!/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" /p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Just then Garrett rolled up behind Jonah and his voice almost caused Jonah to drop his phone./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;""What goes on," Garrett asked him, "What's happenin', J-dog?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Jonah was usually pretty straight with Garrett (despite keeping the most specific of his recent relationship with Amy to himself), but Garrett was well aware of how Jonah felt about Amy. He would have literally never let the discussion drop if he knew they were regularly hooking up outside of work./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;""I've got to go..." Jonah said, uncharacteristically short with him. "Amy just got here and she asked me to go talk to Glenn about...something..." His mind was going a million miles an hour trying to figure out a way out of the situation his mistake had gotten them both into./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;""Pretty sure that's not what I asked," Garrett sad to himself as he watched Jonah bolt towards the break room exit. In his characteristic style, Garrett rarely dwelled on anyone else's weirdness any more. Between his strange relationship with Dina and a few years of dealing with the customers and staff at Cloud9, nothing really seemed all that strange to him anymore. Seriously- the woman he found himself strangely attracted to had a terrible temperament, treated him generally no better than a complete stranger and often smelled of bird seed. Who was he to be thinking someone else was acting strange. That being said, Garrett stared after Jonah for just a moment, noticing that he really did seem even more unusual than ...well...usual./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;""That was definitely odd, even for Jonah," Garrett said to himself, as Jonah doubled back into the break room, grabbed a time card from the rack on the wall, quickly clocking in and dropping it back into its slot- he did this so quickly that Garrett didn't notice that it was Amy's timecard he'd punched. Step one of the plan was complete. Garrett silently watched as Jonah bolted from the room; and shook his head before rolling up to the snack machine to inspect its recently restocked contents./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;""Ooooh... new flavors of Raman! Hey, you see this, man? They finally got the BOLD ramaan I kept asking for."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Mateo raised an eyebrow at Garrett, making it clear he wasn't as excited about this revelation as Garrett clearly was./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;""It doesn't take much to keep the simple people who work here happy, does it?" Mateo replied, the judgement in his tone obvious./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;""You know me man- Gotta find some joy where you can."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Mateo rolled his eyes at his more optimistic counterpart. His response came out with a snort; "Now you sound like Jonah. I'm starting to think there's something in the water that's making people sound like greeting cards."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" /p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Jonah barely heard his name dropped in the conversation as he bolted from the break room (normally he would have turned around to defend his ever-present cheerful attitude but now wasn't the time!) He wasn't sure how he was going to cover for Amy for an entire hour, but he was determined to make it happen. This was, after all, his fault. First task... convincing people that Amy was actually there already./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"He quickly texted Amy back./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"strong style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"2:58 pm/strongbr /Message from "Collections- DO NOT ANSWER": Listen... I'll take care of everything. Don't park in front of the store, I'm going to convince everyone you're already here and everything will be fine. I clocked you in. No one will notice. I'll throw people off your trail and do anything you're supposed to be until you get here./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"strong style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"2:59 pm/strongbr /Message from "The most beautiful girl in the world": I cannot afford to get written up, Jonah. Please, please don't screw this up. I'll get there as quickly as I can. Keep me updated. can't text while I'm driving./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Jonah dropped his phone in his pocket, expecting not to hear from Amy for a while, but as soon as he did, just a moment later, Jonah's phone buzzed again. He pulled it out and was surprised to see another message/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"strong style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"3:01 pm/strongbr /Message from "The most beautiful girl in the world": **TAKE NOTICE**- I'm Handing my phone to Emma so she can relay your messages while I drive./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Jonah smiled to himself. He wanted badly to send back a flirty message but he knew he couldn't. Emma was NOT allowed to know about their relationship, and it occurred to Jonah that he REALLY hoped that Amy was good about deleting their previous conversations. It would have made for a really awkward conversation if Emma found out that Amy had been sleeping with Jonah for months, or worse, if Emma got an eyeful of the photo of Jonah's VERY PALE, very naked ass, that he'd snapped and sent her just a few days earlier after a conversation that Amy had mentioned his complexion, picking on how pale he was, and Jonah had jokingly replied that she would need shades for his response. That photo couldn't still be on Amy's phone...could it? It was too late to ask Amy to be sure - her phone was in Emma's hands already. Jonah had to get to covering for Amy, as much as he wanted to cover his ass (literally), there wasn't anything he could do but trust that Amy regularly deleted the messages they exchanged./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"br /First task at hand... convincing Glenn that Amy was in the store on time. Jonah sped through the store, nearing a jog and reached the hallway between loss prevention, customer rest rooms and the short hallway to payroll and Glen's office. He stuck his head through the partially open door to Glenn's office, knocking at the same time. Just as Glenn opened his mouth to beckon Jonah in, Jonah pretended to hear someone in the hall and looked back out into the (actually empty) hallway./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;""Okay, Amy, no problem, I'll tell him right now!" - Jonah said, trying to sound convincingly like he wasn't just speaking to the empty hallway. At the tail end of his sentence, Sandra had come around the corner and she stopped in her tracks, looking utterly confused. Jonah just gave her an awkward smile and a little half wave of his hand before ducking back into Glenn's office. He left Sandra standing there, looking utterly lost about what had just happened./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Glenn stood up from his desk, and headed towards the door trying to step around Jonah, but Jonah used his body to block him. "Oh good, is Amy right there? I need to speak to her about the days off that she requested." Glenn tried to peer around Jonah, but he took Glenn's shoulder to stop Glenn from going out the door to find no sign of Amy./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;""She uh...she just sent me to tell you that the schedule switch is fine. Just go ahead and put her on the schedule for whatever day you need her. She was just here, but she had to run... someone in ...lady's...things... had a product question about lady products," Jonah explained, scrambling to find anything that would keep Glenn from going after Amy./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;""Oh, oh well, okay then, alright," Glenn said, and Jonah sighed, hoping that was enough to stop him from going after her. Glenn went on. "Let her know I said that I'm sorry that she'll have to reschedule the marriage retreat and tell her that I said thank you- oh, oh, I'm sorry... maybe don't tell her that I mentions the marriage retreat. I'm not supposed to be telling anyone about her marriage situation..."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Jonah tried his best not to look surprised...or hurt. He knew that Amy had mentioned marriage counseling while back, but he was pretty certain that she'd given that up after they had sex that first time. Jonah had tuned out Glenn who was continuing to talk - Jonah was too busy turning over the information in his head. Was Amy still trying to work things out with Adam? Was Amy still sleeping with Adam? Jonah couldn't help but shudder for a moment. It was one thing to know that they has to keep things low-key and quiet...it was another entirely to think that he was sharing Amy with someone physically. Worse, it occurred to him that they hadn't ever really discussed it, and for all he knew, he was not only having an affair with a married woman, but it was possible that he was settling for sloppy seconds. Glenn's phone rang, which startled Jonah from his disturbing thoughts./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Glenn pointed at the phone, "I'd better get that, I've got a customer that was supposed to call me back to make a complaint about Tate. Apparently he was hitting on her, until she asked to pick up her prescriptions, and he canceled on her when he realized she was filling a prescription for (Glenn holds his hands up and whispers) "herpes medication." She was very upset about the situation and this is probably her calling back."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Jonah barely heard what he said but used the excuse to excuse himself from Glenn's office./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;""I'll go find her right now and let her know what you said - well, minus the marriage thing." With that, Jonah left the office as quickly as he could. Deep in thought about what to say to Amy about the marriage retreat, he almost slammed his shoulder in Dina as he flew around the corner./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;""Woah there, where are you speed walking off to?" Dina asked him, "You're moving like your ass is on fire...Oh, and hey, while I've got you, do you know where Amy is? Of course you do. You're always in her back pocket. Where's she at? Is she in there with Glenn?" Dina stuck her head around Jonah and saw Glenn at his desk, looking deeply sympathetic on the phone with an obviously angry customer (her voice could be heard clear across the room as she ranted about Tate the pharmacist)./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;""No...nope. Amy is not in with Glenn, she's out on the floor helping a customer. Or at least she was when I last saw her. Not when I first saw her - I first saw her when she clocked in. On time. She was right on time...early even. She went right to work and was helping a customer. I'll send her your way... when I bump into her," Jonah said, stumbling over his words./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Dina looked at him, eyeing him suspiciously for a moment before shrugging it off. "You do that."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Jonah looked at his watch... he should be able to keep this up for another half an hour... no problem. Time passed, and Jonah was really happy that so far, no one had noticed that Amy wasn't actually there. He'd done a good job covering for her, making excuses as to why she wasn't available, and more than anything, he was still shaken by what Glen had sad and that he wasn't able to talk to Amy about it because Emma had her phone. Jonahs only messages were about where to park and that he's let her in by the dock near the dumpsters./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"br /Thirty eight minutes later, Amy's car swung into the lot adjacent to the store and she bolted on foot to the back of the store, hoping to go unnoticed by the residents of the tent city, and even more so, trying to avoid the single camera that covered that part of the store. She and Jonah had agreed (over text messages) that when Amy finally got to the store, he would meet her and open up the door nearest the dumpster so she could sneak in and pretend like she'd already been there working for the last hour./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Their plan was pretty well thought out, and each time Jonah had to lie to someone about her whereabouts (he kept telling people they had JUST missed her- at one point Garrett had even paged her over the PA, and Jonah had to scramble to explain that she had just gone into the bathroom. He handled the customer complaint that Amy should have, and Jonah ended up forking over $20 to the customer just to shut the woman up and make the problem go away. Annoying, but it seemed totally worth it just to keep things from involving Glenn who would notice that Amy was absent.)/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Jonah heard three taps on the back door and pushed the bar to open the door, and Amy slipped in, putting her vest on as she did./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;""Hey, so... you're good. I've kept everyone thinking that you've been all over the place since you clocked in and so far so good. But Glenn wanted me to tell you that he has to change the schedule and it was going to affect some days you had asked for off."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Amy finished pinning a name tag that read "Susan" to her vest as she straightened it out. She looked up at him. "Oh that sucks... what dates?"/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Jonah got sort of quiet, Amy tugged at her vest and then looked at Jonah who hadn't responded./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;""Did he say what dates I can't have off?" Amy asked a second time./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;""Well.. yeah. He did. And I sort of wanted to talk to you about that," Jonah said quietly. Now he had Amy's full attention./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Just at that moment, Dina came into the back area where the trash bags and empty boxes went. She was carrying an armload of cardboard boxes that needed to be broken down - when she saw Jonah and Amy standing there she dropped all of them at their feet./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;""Oh good. Stop making out and deal with these boxes. When you're done, you can take them out to the compactor since you two are just standing around with nothing better to do." Dina gave them a smirk and dumped the pile of boxes, leaving as quickly as she'd appeared./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;""You were saying?' Amy asked, bending to break down the first of the various cardboard boxes./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Jonah picked up a box as well, peeling back the tape on it; he was avoiding eye contact with Amy, something that wasn't normal for him at all. He wasn't sure how to ask her about her situation at home- he was afraid anything he said would come out sounding entitled, like he had expectations about being the only one she was sleeping with. How could he honestly have those expectations when he was well aware that HE was the one sleeping with a married woman? Also, he'd already told her that what was going on with her marriage and her situation at home was none of his business. He had been clear with Amy- he was happy to listen to whatever, whenever she wanted to talk, but he had tried hard not to pry. He didn't know how to ask this without sounding like he was prying, and no matter how hard, he couldn't seem to get the jealous tone out of his voice./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Finally Jonah took a deep breath. "Glenn said that you had asked off to attend a marriage retreat, but he needs you to work one of the days you had scheduled off."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Amy, who had started to look concerned when Jonah was hesitating, looked completely relieved to hear that, and she let out a little laugh of relief, which surprised him. Jonah raised an eyebrow and looked at Amy for clarification./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;""Glenn has been bugging me to attend a counseling thing at his church, a two day marriage retreat for couples considering divorce... I had already looked for a dozen ways to get out of it... this is a huge relief." Amy stopped speaking for just a moment when she realized how bothered Jonah was by the thought of her and Adam working on their marriage. "It bothered you." Amy's statement came out sounding more like a question than a comment./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;""I didn't mean for it... " Jonah trailed off. He looked up, assuming Amy was laughing at him, but when he stepped on the box he was unfolding and looked up at her face, he realized that Amy wasn't grinning at him like he'd expected. Actually, she looked completely serious. It was her straight face that caused Jonah to answer with complete honesty. "Yeah. It bothered me."/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"Before either of them realized what was happening, in a flash, Amy snatched Jonahs wrist, and looked past him into the store. No one was around. She yanked Jonah by the arm (practically removing it from the socket), dragging him to the far side of the large metal compactor that bundled the large stacks of compressed, flattened cardboard boxes. Before Jonah knew what was happening, Amy's mouth was against his. She was practically on her tiptoes and had backed Jonah against the cold concrete of the back wall of the store. Something about the look on his face, her realization of how jealous Jonah was at the mere thought of Amy and Adam going to marriage counseling, it was too much for her, it overwhelmed her, and like a lightening bolt had shot through her body, just that quickly, she was throwing herself at him just out of view of anyone who might walk into the back area of the stock room.../p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" /p  
/div 


	6. Chapter 6 - Throwing Caution to the Wind

Chapter 6: Throwing Caution to the Wind

Summary:

Apparently the realization that Amy had when Jonah brought up his concerns about Amy possibly attending a marriage retreat with Adam had made his jealousy quite clear. Somewhere in the adorable concern he had shown, well, that was all it took to set something inside her off. It may have been the look in his eyes - he did have that adorable, pouty, almost puppy-like look when he was clearly concerned about something, but it was all too much for her in that moment.

Amy hadn't seen that kind of (dare she say it... )... love? Not in a really long time, if she'd ever. Jonah was always almost annoyingly cute - that she had already admitted (on multiple occasions, to multiple people, much to her chagrin); but when Jonah had all but admitted his jealousy about this situation (one that he'd totally thought too much about.)... well, that was all it took. Seeing the look in his eyes in that moment, Amy totally lost it. And that's where we begin.

(Caution: this chapter is most definitely NSFW... how ironic)

And now, we return to Amy and Jonah, where we left them, behind the cardboard compactor in the back of the storeroom of Cloud9...

Chapter Text

Jonah's relief at Amy's response (that the marriage retreat was never something that was going to happen)- it wasn't noticeable, well, only due to her reaction to the look on his face. She lunged at him- kissing him. Not only had he completely relaxed when the revelation was clear (that Amy had no intention of working on her marriage)- he very quickly had forgotten entirely not only what was said, but also where they were. As soon as her lips met his (without any hesitation), he found himself incredibly turned on and focused only on one thing; the feel of her body against his.

It may have been Amy who started it when she grabbed and kissed him first, but it took Jonah just a few seconds to find himself completely lost in her and taking the lead. The smell of her shampoo, the taste of her lip gloss, the fact that she was practically clawing at him, tugging at his hair (oh god, he hadn't even known that having his hair pulled was something that turned him on until this very moment)... she had him pinned against the wall with her tongue in his mouth - in that moment, both of them were completely unaware of the time, their location, or the possibility of how incredibly close they were to being caught; it was just as well. They were, after all, acting no differently than any average horny teenager.

His hands fumbled with one of the buttons on Amy's shirt, overzealous, almost tearing the button loose before he slipped his hand inside. She didn't pull away or let him go, instead she gripped his hair between her fingers, tilting his head back as their tongues darted back and forth, first entangled in his mouth, then hers. His fingers slipped under the cup of her bra, finding her nipple, causing her to elicit a slight moan that he felt rather than heard. Her fingers mussed Jonah's hair (she couldn't help but pull at it a bit harder than she'd meant to) and simultaneously her leg wrapped around Jonah's, pulling his body closer. He rolled her nipple between his fingers, gently at first, then pinching her hard enough to cause another groan- not a complaint at all; it was clearly more of a moan.

Completely losing track of his inhibitions, his mind had gone completely numb when she had first grabbed him and put her lips to his, and now, moments later, his body was being driven entirely by the erection her actions had caused. Amy hadn't been this forceful or needy since their first night together - Jonah had been similarly surprised by her force during their first time together, but that was nothing compared to this. This was a whole new level of passion, all composure, all tact, any effort to keep their secret was completely thrown into the wind.

It was as if they couldn't get their bodies close enough- even though they were locked around each other, practically running out of oxygen, neither of them appeared to have any need for air - both had far greater needs to tend to in that moment, that was clear.

Jonah was momentarily confused as his hands explored her back, fumbling to free her of the constriction of her bra. After a few moments struggle, she took his hand and made sure it found the clasp, not where he had struggled, but rather on the front of the bra. Once she had made the bra-clasp situation clear, with lightening speed and in one slick move, he undid it. Only two buttons on the front of her shirt were undone, but releasing the closure on her bra allowed him full access - and an incredible visual. He could never get enough of the view of her breasts. (God, he loved that view.)

The situation was getting heated, the sexual tension made both feel as if they had been electrified and, with a sense of urgency and need that came across as almost frustrated, Amy put her foot up on a pallet and pushed her body up and around, causing her to switch sides with Jonah so that her back was now against the wall. In that one swift move, she had hoisted herself up into a seated position atop a pile of pallets, this put her chest right at eye level, which Jonah took immediate advantage of, as he brought his lips to her and created slight suction while running his tounge across her incredibly sensitive areola.

Amy drew a sharp breath- it may have been the incredible way she was feeling in that moment, or that she thought she'd heard a noise. Frantically, she glanced over Jonah's shoulder to be sure they weren't going to get caught like this. She didn't see anyone, a really really good thing, because at that exact moment, there was no way either of them were stopping. Jonah undid the top button of her plaid shirt, and releasing the third button which revealed complete access to her bare chest. Jonah's lips kissed along her collarbone, before finding her other nipple. She was already at attention from a combination of her bare skin in the cool air and from the attention that she'd already recieved from him just moments earlier. His right hand found her other breast, caressing one nipple with his thumb and forefinger as his warm breath on the other gave her goosebumps. He ran his tounge around her nipple, his slow, sensual attention to such a sensitive area causing Amy to moan softly, sensually. The sound alone almost did him in.

She fumbled with his belt buckle, clearly on a mission.. She quickly and adeptly pulled his belt loose from the buckle, giving her access to his zipper. Closing her eyes from the pleasure Jonah's mouth was causing, the movements of his tounge sent little bolts of electricity pulsing right through her. It was the familiarity by this point, with the skinny jeans he always seemed to be wearing, that allowed her to unzip his pants without looking. It was way too late for rational thought- they were well past that point. She took one last glance over Jonah's shoulders before completely giving in, and pulling his tucked shirt loose from his pants.

Her shirt gaped open, and she dropped her shoulders slightly which allowed her vest to fall off, sliding onto the wooden pallet behind her. With the hand that had been tugging at his shirt, Amy reached Jonah's shoulders and brought his mouth back up to meet hers. She pulled him close, her bare chest pressing against his button-down, as she whispered in his ear.

"I need this."

It made absolutely no difference what she said- he was already well on his way and nothing was going to change his mind short of an actual act of God (or maybe the horrified scream Glenn would have let out had he walked in on them at that exact moment- that may have been enough)- regardless, Jonah had literally never heard a single sound that he could ever remember had turned him on more.

As Amy released his shoulders, she reached down to unzip those familiar skinny jeans, getting exactly what she wanted without much struggle or hesitation. Jonah's erection was raging. Amy barely had to pull at the edge of his boxer briefs because he was already peaking out the top edge, and just like that, he was fully exposed - but not for long. It was a really good thing that this had to be quick because he had no doubt that he wasn't going to last long anyway. She wrapped her hand around his cock, this time it was Jonah's turn to moan. They had been all over each other for all of two minutes, but he was positive that it wouldn't take more than a slight manipulation of the way she was handling his cock and that would be it, he'd cum and it would be all over.

Sliding her hand up his manhood, her soft hand had a firm grip, and it only took one good stroke and with that, her thumb found precum at the tip. She slid her thumb across the head of his penis and she used it to lubricate his shaft, making sure the head of his cock was both hard and slick. As she did this, she kissed him passionately, gently sucking on his lower lip. Jonah grimaced, but she knew it wasn't pain or or lack of pleasure- no, his face gave him away - she realized that if she didn't get him inside of her soon, they were going to have a real mess to deal with. He reached behind and slid her foward and cooperating, she lifted her hips, allowing him to slide her pants down her thighs. They quickly realized there wasn't enough room to do what they were trying to- not without removing her pants completely, obviously not something either of them found feasible.

They both fumbled momentarily, unsure how to solve the dilemma that neither of them had thought out. There was no turning back and Jonah clearly needed release... and with the way she was stroking him, it was going to happen soon, regardless of what they figured out. Amy hadn't stopped working her hand up and down his shaft and Jonah's eyes were forcing themselves closed from the pleasure. Without really thinking, his body realized a solution. Without speaking (which he couldn't have done at that point anyway), he pulled Amy forward towards him and down off the crate. With that, he lowered her pants ( just below her gorgeous ass) and bent her forward. Amy got the message loud and clear and braced herself. From that angle, all that was left was for Jonah to take ahold of himself, guiding him into Amy from behind. She was so wet, and he was so hard, despite her being extremely tight, he found little resistance. He held onto her hips as he drove himself into her in just a few short strokes, filling her thoroughly. Amy was glad she wasn't facing him, because she was pretty sure that her eyes rolled back in her head in that moment.

If Jonah had only been moments away from cumming when he had entered her, apparently Amy was even closer. With both of his warm, strong hands holding the bare skin of her exposed hips, he drove his cock into her with a slow but steady rhythm. After he got the angle right, the first time he was fully inside her, he had to stop for just a moment; he didn't think he was going to last a second time.

His eyes flicked open, desperately, Jonah's eyes scanned, searching for anything to take his mind off of the feelings stirring deep inside him- despirately his eyes darted around - the cardboard boxes, the compactor, the wood pallets... But as his hips rocked forward, driving himself into her (into her perfectly tight, warm, wet...)- with just the fourth or fourth time, Amy made a sound that startled him.

For just a split second, Jonah almost stopped moving, thinking maybe he had hurt her... but two things happened simultaneously. First- his mind realized that the noise Amy made was directly correlating to the intense pressure he was suddenly feeling as her body was literally milking his cock as she clamped down on him. No, that was not a complaint or pain... like that, he hadn't thought it was possible, but there was no arguing the fact: she was cumming - no question about it.

Amy threw her head back, riding the intense wave rushing through her entire body and then, a second thing happened. Jonah realized too late, that he couldn't stop himself - and with that, he was cumming too. Jonah's body shook, he was on his tiptoes somehow, he stopped the rhythm and his legs became weak. Just that quickly, his dick pulsed and he filled her. Complete silence filled the air. Both of them stopped breathing and it's possible their hearts stopped beating for just a moment.

Then, slowly, consciousness began to sink back in. He nestled his face against her neck and kissed her. In the entire five minutes since the encounter had begun... neither of them had even remotely considered the possibility that they'd need a condom in the middle of their shifts at work in the back room of the store. It was way too late to think about that now. Jonah pulled himself close to Amy, both because he was intoxicated with her scent and reeling from both of them cumming, and because he was suddenly EXTREMELY aware of how incredibly exposed they both were and the risk they had just taken.

If anyone had ventured into the back part of the store, they wouldn't actually have been able to see what was going on (Not without walking completely around the large metal compactor)- but it wouldn't have taken much effort to HEAR what had been happening back behind the (convenient, yet incomplete) cover of that large body metal machine and the stack of wooden pallets.

It was a really good thing that she had been so aggressive (and that both of them had been pretty quick to get to the point.)

Amy was the first to speak. "Oh man. Oh... Geeze." she reached back and took ahold of Jonah's bare hip... "Okay, we have to... Deal with this..."

As soon as Jonah's legs stopped wobbling (and he was confident that he was completely able to support his own weight, he leaned Amy slightly farther forward, and then pulled her body close before he pulled back and out of her, releasing himself from the tight grip her body had on him. In one motion, he pulled his pants the rest of the way up, and zipped himself back up. Amy spun, now facing him, in one motion, sliding her underwear and pants up and fastening them as well. Jonah fumbled with her bra clasp - but found that it was must easier to undo it than it was to clasp the damn thing. Just as he succeeded, Jonah and Amy heard a voice.

Dina was on her way into the back room with another load of boxes. She got as far as the pile and stopped, looking around. Jonah leaned forward over Amy, trying to hide them both as completely as possible - his face was burried in her hair, her face was pressed against his shirt. (so much for an afterglow- *the last thing he ever wanted to hear seconds after orgasm was Diana's voice* There was no way he could understand Garrett's taste in women, that was for damn sure.)

Dina looked around, not seeing anyone, and dumped the second pile of cardboard boxes. She took a moment, glancing around but she couldn't see Amy and Jonah, just feet away but hidden behind the compactor - which was REALLY, really good for all involved...

Had she seen them in that location (and with Jonah practically completely on top of Amy) she would have immediately known what they'd been up to. Not helping the look of the situation, Jonah's shirt was still fully untucked, Amy's vest was off (it had fallen behind her, balled up on the pallets) and her shirt was still fully unbuttoned. Neither of them made a sound or took a breath.

After a groan and a comment to herself about her lazy-ass coworkers, Dina dumped the second pile of boxes and stormed off, back towards the sales floor in search of Jonah and Amy. Only then did they dare breathe.

Amy had never buttoned three buttons so quickly, and Jonah fumbled, attempting to tuck in his shirt. He was quickly disturbed by how sticky his boxer-briefs were and suddenly felt very badly for Amy, who clearly was going to have an uncomfortable situation to deal with...

They darted from thier hiding space. Jonah smoothed out his hair (Amy's death grip moments earlier had it standing up all over the place) and Jonah attempted to straighten out his pants and shirt. That's when the realization hit and Jonah took a sharp breath in. "Oh, God."

Amy wasn't sure if the "Oh God," was in reference to what they'd just done or how close they came to getting caught (essentially close enough to having their pants down), by Dina.

"You...okay?" Amy asked him, bending slightly to pick up one of the cardboard boxes to flatten. She immediately regretted the bending as she realized how uncomfortably sticky she was.. and then a suddenly the same thought crossed her mind too.

"Yeah.. That was... I mean... Amazing," Jonah paused, but found himself adding, "I'm sorry that it was so quick.. But it's kind of a good thing that it was..." Jonah was rambling and he knew it. He was actively avoiding the thought that he'd had moments earlier.

"We didn't.. yeah. And I'm not... on... any... birth control right now." Amy said, grimacing slightly, while folding a second flat box and adding it to the pile of just two boxes they'd flattened so far.

"Oh... Man." Jonah had felt bad enough at the lack of condom...but it didn't occur to him that Amy might not be on birth control. "I didn't think...I got caught up... I'm sorry..."

"No, Its my fault," Amy apologized, "I mean... You didn't..."

"Hey... hey... No. It was just as much at fault," Jonah felt guilty, he was always more responsible that he had just been. "I should have just..."

"Made a huge mess?" Amy smiled and offered. Jonah couldn't help but let out a shy laugh. Amy went on; "Yeah, you really should have assumed I was going to fuck you as soon as I got in the store- I mean, how irresponsible are you, coming in here to work without condoms on you?"

Jonah blushed, but laughed..."Yeah. I wasnt expecting... Well... Any of that. But as soon as you kissed me..." he let out a big sigh, "God, I thought I was done as soon as you touched me." Suddenly Jonah realized he was talking a little too loudly and he nervously picked up a box and folded it, glancing around.

Amy laughed and then shifted, clearly uncomfortable with the sticky situation she was dealing with. "I'm going to go... um... pee... and deal with the situation going on down here... It's not good.." Jonah was laughing and blushing hard, his cheeks were bright red.

Jonah sweetly offered to finish breaking down and cleaning up the cardboard, and Amy excused herself to the restroom to clean up. But before she rushed off, she turned back and quickly kissed Jonah again- just a quick peck, and somehow, that kiss felt more risky than the fact that they'd just had sex on the clock, in the store, pretty much out in the open. He was so confused by her boldness, but he was so happy and he didn't care.

Moments after Amy had excused herself, Jonah found himself looking himself over. He straightened up, tugging at his shirt. He still felt like he LOOKED like he'd just had sex. He was SURE his hair was a mess.

He turned back to the cardboard pile and flattened another box and just then, Dina came bursting back in the back with more boxes. She startled, seeing him there.

"What the fu... Where did you... I was just here a minute ago..." Dina eyed Jonah completely up and down and was so very confused. She noticed his hair was sticking up at an odd angle and have him a suspicious glare. She looked him up and down in a way that made Jonah's ears burn red and hot, but Jonah recovered quickly. "I don't know what you're talking about. I've been right here, just folding boxes..."

Neither of them spoke another word, but Dina clearly looked him up and down like she had missed something. Amy returned just a few moments later and Dina gave her an equally suspicious glare.

"Where's your vest?" Dina asked. Amy glanced at Jonah, trying to hide her panic. Dina looked at her watch on her wrist and back at Amy. "You've been here for almost an hour and a half without your..." she trailed off. (Wasn't Amy wearing her vest the first time Dina saw her?) Dina looked at Amy closely. She stepped really close to Amy and sniffed. She looked back at Jonah and both Amy and Jonah said nothing, playing it cool.

Dina looked annoyed. "Something is going on. I can feel it. And I'm going to get to the bottom of it." With that, she stormed off, clearly annoyed.

Amy waited until she was out of sight before quickly retrieving her vest from behind the cardboard compactor and put it back on.

"So... you covered for me, huh? No one noticed I wasn't here?"

"No one knew. I told you I've got your back." Jonah smiled at her, and the two silently finished breaking down the rest of the boxes and filled the compactor. They were both glowing, and it was going to be pretty hard to hide.


End file.
